Journal Pre-proof

Performance evaluation of a novel hybrid cooling system combining indirect

evaporative cooler and earth-air heat exchanger

Nasibeh Nemati, Amir Omidvar, Behnam Rosti

PII: S0360-5442(20)32323-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119216
Reference: EGY 119216

To appear in: Energy

Received Date: 4 June 2020

Revised Date: 28 October 2020
Accepted Date: 29 October 2020

Please cite this article as: Nemati N, Omidvar A, Rosti B, Performance evaluation of a novel hybrid
cooling system combining indirect evaporative cooler and earth-air heat exchanger, Energy, https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.119216.

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Credit Author Statement
Nasibeh Nemati: software, validation, visualization. Amir Omidvar: conceptualization, writing and
editing, methodology, supervisor. Behnam Rosti: validation, writing-original draft, visualization.

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 Performance evaluation of a novel hybrid cooling system combining indirect evaporative

cooler and earth-air heat exchanger

Nasibeh Nemati a, Amir Omidvar a1, Behnam Rosti a

a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University of Technology, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

In this research, a new hybrid system combining indirect evaporative cooler and underground air tunnels

has been proposed as an eco-friendly alternative for vapor-compression cooling cycles. Indirect evaporative

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cooling is an efficient thermal comfort cooling method in arid and semi-arid climates. Due to global warming

and limited water resources, managing and monitoring of water consumption in evaporative coolers are of

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particular importance in these regions. In the present study, the cooling efficiency and water consumption of the
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proposed novel hybrid system are evaluated theoretically. To this aim, a mathematical model was developed for
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simulating the cooling performance of indirect evaporative cooler and earth-air heat exchanger systems. The
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fully implicit finite difference scheme was employed in computations. The simulations were validated against

some available experimental and numerical data and a good agreement was obtained. The effect of the design
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parameters of the underground pipe on pre-cooling performance was studied. The results showed that coupling

the underground heat exchanger to an indirect evaporative cooler not only improved cooling performance but
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also significantly decreased water consumption. Besides maintaining the desired thermal comfort level, our
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investigation indicated that the proposed system can decrease energy and water consumption by about 62% and

45%, respectively.

Keywords: Hybrid cooling system, Earth-air heat exchanger, Indirect evaporative cooler, Cooling capacity,

Water consumption

1. Introduction

Today, the design of sustainable buildings with relatively low energy consumption and the least impact on

the environment is very important. The use of prevalent vapor-compression cycles to cool the buildings in

addition to high energy consumption is often accompanied by environmental degradation due to the use of

1
Corresponding Author:
Email address: omidvar@sutech.ac.ir ; amir.omidvar@gmail.com (Amir Omidvar)

1
chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerants in them. Evaporative cooling is an eco-friendly method, considered as

one of the most suitable alternatives to common refrigerant-based techniques in hot and dry climates. Energy

efficiency, sustainability, low installation and maintenance costs, and 100% renewal air are the major benefits of

evaporative cooling systems [1,2]. Direct and indirect methods are the two main approaches in evaporative

cooling. In direct coolers, the high humidity of the product air may be considered as a drawback, while indirect

evaporative coolers (IECs) can produce cool air with no increase in moisture [2]. An indirect evaporative cooler

comprises dry and wet channels separated by thin plates and primary (product) and secondary (working)

airstreams flowing through them. The secondary air stream indirectly reduces the temperature of the primary air

by absorbing heat due to water evaporation in the wet channel [2,3].

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Concerning the positive features of indirect evaporative coolers, in recent years a large number of studies

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have focused on developing and improving the performance of this type of cooling system. Chen et al. [4]

numerically studied the effect of condensation in the primary air channel on the performance indices of IECs
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under three different operation states. They indicated that the condensation in the primary air channel can reduce
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the efficiency of IECs in hot and humid regions. Kabeel et al. [5] conducted an experimental study on improving
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the performance of IEC as an air pre-cooling unit. Their results showed that adding baffles in the primary

channel can be an efficient way to improve the IEC effectiveness. De Antonellis et al. [6] developed a new IEC
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model to consider the effects of secondary air humidification and surface wettability factor. They argued that
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their proposed model can predict the performance of IECs in a wide range of operating conditions. Wan et al.

[7] provided a correlation to predict the efficiency of counter-flow indirect evaporative coolers. According to
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their results, the proposed correlation which was based on five dimensionless parameters could accurately

estimate the behavior of counter-flow IECs. Wang et al. [8] proposed a novel porous ceramics tube type IEC to

improve the surface hydrophilicity in the secondary (wet) channel. They showed that the performance of the

suggested cooler is much higher than the aluminum tube type and aluminum tube covered by textile IEC.

Pandelidis et al. [9] studied the operational aspects of a counter-flow IEC as a heat recovery device in

comparison with a typical recuperator within the temperate climate. They showed that the counter-flow IEC is

suitable for this purpose. Min et al. [10] numerically studied and compared the possibility of condensation

occurrence in indirect evaporative coolers with cross-flow and counter-flow configurations. Their results

indicated that the condensation in the primary air channel is more likely to occur in a counter-flow configuration

than in cross-flow one. Pandelidis et al. [11] compared the performance of counter-flow and cross-flow IECs for

heat recovery in air conditioning systems. The results revealed that the cross-flow IECs are far more economical

2
than counter-flow units, despite their lower cooling capacity. Liu et al. [12] experimentally studied the total heat

transfer efficiency of an indirect evaporative cooler. They introduced the novel enthalpy efficiency index to

evaluate the heat transfer capacity and performance optimization of the cross-flow and counter-flow indirect

evaporative coolers. Min et al. [13] studied the dropwise and filmwise condensation on the surfaces of primary

air channels. They investigated the effects of temperature, velocity, and relative humidity of primary air on

condensation characteristics and heat transfer performance of IECs.

In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted on pre-cooling the inlet air as an effective way to

improve the performance of indirect coolers. The air pre-cooling process in an indirect evaporative cooler can be

performed on both primary and secondary air streams. Enhancing the efficiency of conventional IECs through

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pre-cooling the air entering the secondary (wet) channel by branching from the outlet product air has been the

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subject of much research in recent years [14-18]. These studies have led to the development of a modified type

of indirect coolers called regenerative/M-cycle IECs [19,20].

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Besides, a limited number of studies have been performed on the effect of pre-cooling the primary inlet air
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by combining the IEC with other cooling systems. Farmahini-Farahani et al. [21] utilized a nocturnal radiative
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unit coupled with a cooling coil for pre-cooling the primary inlet air to the IEC. Their results indicated that the

hybrid system is a suitable alternative to conventional mechanical vapor compression systems. In other research,
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Farahani-Farmahini and Heidarinejad [22] studied a multi-step system of nocturnal radiative cooling and two-
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stage evaporative cooling. They stated that the multi-step system can be considered as an alternative cooling

system in hot regions where evaporative cooling cannot be used. Khalajzade et al. [23] used a ground-coupled
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water circuit to pre-cool the incoming air to the dry channel of an IEC. They reported that the cooling wet-bulb

effectiveness of this hybrid system can reach values greater than unity.

The earth-air heat exchanger (EAHX) is a capable passive technique that can effectively be coupled with

IECs to pre-cool the primary inlet air. Employing an EAHX to use soil depth temperature has been one of the

methods of the ancient Iranians for heating and cooling, which has faded over time [24,25]. Over the past two

decades, a variety of research has been conducted to develop and improve the performance of EAHXs [25]. The

earth-air heat exchanger can be used alone or in combination with other conventional/natural systems to get

optimum room temperature. Benhammou et al. [26] utilized the EAHX to improve the cooling efficiency of

traditional wind towers. Ahmadi et al. [27] used an EAHX to pre-cool the incoming air of a water spray channel.

Congedo et al. [28] proposed EAHX as a passive system for pre-heating/pre-cooling of the air source heat pump

to reduce the required electric power and keep heating/cooling capacity constant.

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 In the present study, the performance of a novel hybrid system combining indirect evaporative cooler and

underground air tunnel was studied theoretically. The cooling performance and water consumption were

considered as two important performance indices. To this aim, a counter-flow IEC and a horizontal EAHX were

modeled and validated against some reported experimental data. The cooling effectiveness of the proposed

hybrid system was evaluated over a one-month operating period for the weather conditions in Tehran (the

capital city of Iran). Due to limited water resources and the necessity of managing and monitoring water

consumption in evaporative cooling systems, in this study, water consumption was considered as a key

performance criterion.

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2. Hybrid system description

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An overview of the proposed hybrid cooling system has been shown in Fig. 1(a). The ambient air

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temperature drops by passing through the buried pipe and due to heat exchanging with the surrounding soil
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(process 1-2). Then the outlet air from the EAHX enters the dry channels of the IEC. In the process 2-3, the

primary air temperature decreases without adding moisture, and then the product air enters the indoor space to
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provide comfort conditions. On the other side, in a converse direction, the secondary air (working air) flows in
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the wet channels. In the process 1-4, the air with ambient temperature enters secondary (wet) channels and picks

up the moisture from the hydrophilic walls of wet channels which results in removing heat from the primary air
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in the dry channel. All process lines have been demonstrated on the psychrometric in Fig. 1(b).
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3. Mathematical modeling

3.1. Indirect evaporative cooler (IEC)

Ren and Ynag developed an analytical model for simulating the heat and mass transfer processes in indirect

evaporative coolers [29]. Their suggested model has been used as a computational framework in some

researches [16,30,31]. In the present paper, the proposed model by Ren and Yang is employed to simulate the

thermal performance of the counter-flow indirect evaporative cooler. Accordingly, the energy and mass

conservation equations for a differential element depicted in Fig. 2 are as following.

The energy balance equation for the secondary air stream is written as [16,31]:

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Fig 1. The hybrid system a) the schematic view, b) the corresponding processes lines on the psychrometric chart.
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Fig 2. Schematic view of a differential element.

(1)

where, and represent specific enthalpy of moist air and specific enthalpy of water vapor, respectively.

These factors can be calculated as [29]:

(2)

(3)

Placing Eqs. (2) and (3) into Eq. (1) and considering the dimensionless lengths and , we will have:

5
 " )* . *1 .
! # + , -' 0
&'
#$% -( -( 1
(4)
&(

The mass balance equation for secondary air can be written as [16,31]:

%
(5)

In this equation, is convective mass transfer coefficient which can be calculated as

+
2( 34
(6)

where Le is Lewis number. Hence, Eq. (5) can be rewritten as the following form.

* .
% 0 + ,
1 -(
(7)

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The energy balance equation for the primary air is written as [16,31]:

78 9
( !(

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(8)

By using the dimensionless length

air channel can be calculated from the following equation.

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in Eq. (8), the slope of temperature change along the primary (dry)
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8 9
!( :,
( -(
(9)
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where 7 is the overall heat transfer coefficient between primary air and the water film which may be calculated
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as:

7
#
; =>?@@ ;
$ $
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<( A>?@@ <>

(10)
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where is the convection heat transfer coefficient of the water film [32].

BC 1.88
+> D>
E>
(11)

δI represents the thickness of water film, which can be approximated as [32]:

KL> M #/K
J
N> O
(12)

The energy balance equation for the water film in the secondary (wet) channel should be written as a closure

equation. This equation can be written as [16,31]:

78 9 13
> !>

By using dimensionless lengths and , Eq. (13) can be rewritten as Eq. (14).

8 9 * .
!> :, + , +R 0, -' S
> -(> > -(> > -(> -(> -(>
(14)

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The cooling performance of an indirect evaporative cooler can be predicted by solving an equation set

consisting of equations (4), (7), (9), and (14). Using dimensionless parameters B 7 , T
+ , -'
-( U -(
,

T ,T , VW , and V
-(> : ( -( > -(>
U -( + -( -(
, the governing equations set can be rewritten as Eqs. (15) to

(18).

B 7 *1 T . 15
! # 0
#$% X'? U 1

B 7 16
% 0
1

B 7[ 8 9 " T T ) \ 17
!> X # # 0 S
2> 2> 2> 1 2(? U U

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B 78 9 18
!( X
2^

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The following boundary conditions are considered to solve the mentioned governing equations [33].

0 19-a
U `
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1 U ` 19-b
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e 1 eU ` 19-c
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0 ,U 1hUO1 1 19-d
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The water consumption rate (WCR) of an IEC unit is equal to water evaporation rate in its secondary (wet)

channels which can be obtained by [19]:

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WCR 1000 m
N?
N>
(20)
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where m is the volumetric flow rate of the working air and and refer to the humidity ratio of the moist air

in the outlet and inlet of the secondary (wet) channel, respectively.

The wet-bulb effectiveness, which is one of the important performance indicators of evaporative air coolers

can be obtained from [16]:

n
!op,q r!op,s
` !op,q r!>p,q
(21)

where `, and `, are dry-bulb temperatures of the inlet and outlet air, respectively. `, is the wet-bulb

temperature of the inlet air.

3.2. Earth-air heat exchanger (EAHX)

In this research, a simplified model based on the transient hollow-cylindrical source method has been

employed for calculating the cooling capacity of the ground-coupled air heat exchanger. Utilizing the hollow-

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cylindrical source approach is very common to simulate the heat exchange rate in vertical boreholes and pile

ground heat exchangers [34,35]. Recently, the use of this method has also been proposed for simulating the

thermal behavior of horizontal underground air tunnels [36].

According to this model, it is assumed that the heat taken from the inside air stream, after passing through

the small thickness of the pipe, is uniformly applied to the wall of a hollow soil cylinder. Soil temperature in

distant points t tu is also considered equal to the undisturbed soil temperature . At the burial depth of

the underground pipe, the undisturbed soil temperature can be assumed equal to the annual average ambient

temperature of the particular locality [37]. The axial and radial schematic views of the underground pipe and its

surrounding thermally disturbed soil are shown in Fig. 3.

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Fig 3. Schematic view of an axial element pipe and the surrounding thermally disturbed soil.
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The governing equation and its boundary conditions for calculating the heat distribution in the soil adjacent

to the pipe in cylindrical coordinates can be written as follows [36]:

# ! x! # !
v sq@ w hx h h
(22)

y
! |}
z h h{hs ~•hs
(23)

tu , € z (24)

t, 0 z (25)

In Eq. (23), • ‚ is heat flux per unit length of pipe which can be expressed by:

•‚
ƒ -8!„,s…† r!„,q‡ 9
(q(ˆ
(26)

where ‰, Š and ‰, ‹w are the inlet and outlet air temperatures of the EAHX, respectively. The temperature of the

air entering the underground pipe is equal to the ambient temperature, while the outlet air temperature can be

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obtained by solving the energy balance equation for airflow through the pipe. The energy balance equation for a

longitudinal element along the pipe length can be written as [38]:

Œƒ
!„ •,w !Žs w r!„ •,w
• X†s†
(27)

where • represents the axial direction. By considering ‰ 0, € ‰, Š € and solving the Eq. (27), we will have

•, € € € € • ‘
•
‰ hs ‰, Š hs ƒ -X†s†
(28)

Letting • ’ in Eq. (28), the air outlet temperature ‰, ‹w is calculated. Tw w is the total thermal resistance

per unit length due to the conduction heat transfer across the pipe thickness and the convection heat transfer

between the air and pipe inner surface [36,38]:

Tw
# zŠ hs ⁄hq

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w ~•hq + ~•E(q(ˆ
(29)

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where represents the convection heat transfer coefficient inside the pipe which is defined by:

”‹E„
~hq
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The Nusselt number (Nu) for airflow in a pipe which depends on Reynolds number (Re) and Prandtl number

(Pr) is given by [37]:

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3.66 š T• < 2300

BC ™
š T• ≥ 2300
‰/• X1r#žžž Ÿh (31)
#$#~. ¡‰/•8Ÿh x/¢ r#9
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where š is the friction coefficient obtained from

š 1.82 ¤¥¦ T• 1.64

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r~
(32)
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3.3. Economic and environmental assessment

Based on the life-cycle analysis, the payback time ¨ can be computed as a function of the inflation rate of

energy cost and the market discount rate by the following equation [39,40].
o-q ¯
«
zŠ¬#r ;®q °‡ ±
š ≠
¨
;®q
zŠ
ª
;®o

© 1 š
2‡
,

(33)

This means that the net investment costs will be paid back after ¨ years. In Eq. (33), VŠ and ³ are net

investment costs and annual cost savings. In the present work, VŠ can be considered as:

VŠ V´,µ¶ V

(34)

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where V´,µ¶ is the initial cost of the EAHX and V represents the total cost saving due to amending the

required size of the primary HVAC units caused by coupling with EAHX. The use of an underground heat

exchanger, in addition to providing a part of the required heating/cooling loads, reduces the size of primary

HVAC systems and can even meet the need for air-handling units to some extent. This will decrease the initial

costs of the project, which its related effect has been included in the form of the parameter “V ” in our

calculations.

In calculating the annual cost saving ³ , the rate of carbon tax reduction is one of the determinant items. It is

thus necessary to calculate the amount of reduction of environmental pollutants due to the use of an

underground heat exchanger as a pre-heating/pre-cooling system.

The total pollution emissions reduction ∆Œ1 due to electricity ∆¸ and natural gas ∆¹ saving can be

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achieved by the following equation [41].

∆Œ1 8∆¹ × »1 ,”¼ 9 8∆¸ × »1 ,´ 9

(35)
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where »1 ,”¼ and »1 ,´ are the emission conversion factors for electricity and natural gas that their values
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are listed in Table 1. By considering the percentage of energy losses in the electricity distribution network

¸B’ , Eq. (35) can be rewritten as:

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∆Œ1 8∆¹ × »1 ,”¼ 9 × »1

∆´
#r´” ,´
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(36)

In our calculations, the value of ¸B’ is assumed to be equal to 10%.

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Table 1. Emission conversion information of electricity and natural gas [41].

Electricity Natural gas

»2½~ 0.99 kg/kWh 1.94 (kg/m3)
»Á½~ 0.03 kg/kWh 0.00124 (kg/m3)
»”½ 0.015 kg/kWh 0.00496 (kg/m3)

4. Validation

4.1. Validation of IEC model

The governing equations and boundary conditions obtained by Eqs. (15) to (19) were discretized by the

finite difference method. The mesh convergence study was performed and a mesh with 4,000 nodes showed

10
acceptable grid independency. The results of this simulation are compared with the reported numerical results

by Hasan [14]. The detailed input parameters used by Hasan are listed in Table 2. In Fig. 4, the temperature

distributions of primary and secondary air, and water film temperature are drawn along the channel length.

Excellent agreement between the computational results and the reported numerical data [14] ensures the validity

of our simulations.

Table 2. Input parameters in the numerical study of Hasan [14].

Parameter Value Unit

Channel length, width 0.5, 0.5 m
Channel gap 0.007 m
0.000767 kg⁄s

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Mass flow rate of primary air per channel
0.000633 kg⁄s

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Mass flow rate of secondary air per channel
Inlet primary and secondary air temperature 30.0 ℃
Humidity ratio of inlet air -p 0.009 kg⁄kg
Nusselt number 4.861
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Primary air temp.
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32 Secondary air temp.

Water film temp.
30 Primary air temp. [14]
Secondary air temp. [14]
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Temperature (◦ C)

28 Water film temp. [14]

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24

22

20

18
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
x/L (%)

Fig 4. Comparison of the results of the present model with the numerical data reported by Hasan [14].

4.2. Validation of EAHX model

The finite difference method based on a fully implicit scheme was applied to discretize the governing

equation and boundary conditions of the EAHX model. A grid independence study was performed over four

different grid densities (with 300, 400, 500, and 600 nodes). The outlet air temperature was used as a criterion

11
for convergence study. The computational mesh with 500 nodes was selected for simulations. The time step was

also set to 60 s to satisfy the time-step convergence. The proposed 1-D mathematical model for EAHX was

validated against two different experimental data sets reported by Goswami and Dhaliwal [42] and Mehdid et al.

[38]. All input parameters used in these studies are listed in Table 3. In Fig. 5, the results of the computational

model in predicting the outlet temperature of the ground heat exchanger were compared with the available

experimental data during several different time periods. As shown in this figure, the calculated results were in an

excellent agreement with the reported measured data. The very small difference between experimental and

computational data can be due to the error of the measuring instruments and the uncertainty in determining some

of the input data.

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Table 3. Input parameters in the experimental studies.

Parameter Value Unit

Case 1:
-p
6.45 × 10r m~ ⁄s
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Soil thermal diffusivity
Thermal conductivity of soil, pipe, air 1.16, 0.33, 0.028 W⁄m. K
18.99 ℃
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Undisturbed soil temperature

Pipe diameter, thickness, length 0.305, 0.002, 25 m
Specific heat capacity of air 1205 J⁄kg. K
1.47 m⁄s
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Air velocity
Air density 1.214 kg⁄mK
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Case 2:
Thermal conductivity of soil, pipe, air 1.5, 0.16, 0.0242 W⁄m. K
1340, 900, 1005 J⁄kg. K
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Specific heat capacity of soil, pipe, air

Density of soil, pipe, air 1800, 1380, 1.225 kg⁄mK
Pipe diameter, thickness, length 0.110, 0.002, 47 m
Air velocity 3.5 m⁄s
Undisturbed soil temperature 22.0 ℃

5. Results and discussion

In this section, cooling performance and water consumption of the hybrid cooling system combining an

indirect evaporative cooler with an earth-air heat exchanger are evaluated. This study was performed for the

hottest period of weather conditions in Tehran (the capital city of Iran) with a semi-arid climate. According to

the weather history data of Tehran, 2010 has been the warmest year over the last decade [43]. Hence, our

calculations are carried out for July 2010 as a critical period for cooling system assessment.

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 In the proposed hybrid system, the ground heat exchanger works as a pre-cooling system decreasing the

ambient air temperature by heat exchanging with lower soil temperature. As pointed out in the literature, from a

certain depth onwards, the soil temperature remains constant and is equal to annual average ambient air

temperature [37,44]. In Tehran, the proper burial depth and its corresponding soil temperature are about 5 m and

17.5 ℃, respectively. The other required data for simulation of the hybrid cooling system including thermo-

physical properties of materials and structural characteristics of the IEC and EAHX are listed in Table 4.

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Fig 5. Validation of the EAHX model with experimental data; a) case 1, after 18.5 hours; b) case 1, after 21.5 hours;
c) case 2, after 2 hours; d) case 2, after 6 hours.

Table 4. Design parameters of the hybrid system.

Parameter Value Unit

Channel dimensions 0.5 × 0.5 × 0.007 m
Total required air flow rate for cooling 0.15 mK ⁄s
Mass flow rate of primary air per channel 0.0028 kg⁄s
Mass flow rate of secondary air per channel 0.0014 kg⁄s
Thermal conductivity of soil, pipe, air 0.52, 0.2, 0.026 W⁄m. K
Specific heat capacity of soil, pipe, air 1750, 900, 1005 J⁄kg. K
Density of soil, pipe, air 2050, 1380, 1.213 kg⁄mK
Undisturbed soil temperature 17.5 ℃

13
 In the first step, the overall impact of the main design parameters of EAHX (e.g. pipe length and diameter)

on cooling performance and water consumption of the hybrid system was studied. The outlet air temperature of

the combined system and the amount of water consumed corresponding to air temperature changes were

considered as the main criteria in this analysis. In Fig. 6, the outlet air temperature and water consumption rate

of the hybrid system are drawn for two different pipe diameters (15 cm and 30 cm) against the length of EAHX

altered from zero to 80 m. The air flowrate inside the underground pipe is equal to 0.15 mK ⁄s for both

diameters.

It should be noted that the length of (’ 0) refers to a situation that the IEC working alone and without

pre-cooling the inlet air by the EAHX. This comparison was carried out under the critical ambient air

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temperature of 41℃. Since the continuous use of ground heat exchanger gradually causes soil thermal saturation

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and consequently reduces the effectiveness of pre-cooling, in Fig. 6, the graphs were compared at the end of a

one-month operating period.

-p
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(a) (b)
6.0
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28.0
Water consumption rate (L/hr)
Outlet air temperature (◦ C)

Pipe diameter = 15cm Pipe diameter = 15cm

27.5
Pipe diameter = 30cm Pipe diameter = 30cm
5.0
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27.0

26.5 4.0
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26.0
3.0
25.5
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25.0 2.0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80
Pipe length, Lp (m) Pipe length, Lp (m)

Fig 6. Variation of the hybrid system performance against EAHX length and diameter in terms of a) outlet air temperature b)
water consumption rate.

As shown in Fig. 6, increasing the pipe length of the ground-air heat exchanger improved the pre-cooling

process of inlet air to the IEC and consequently diminished the temperature of supply air to the indoor space.

According to the results, using an EAHX with the length of 80 m could decrease the outlet air temperature and

water consumption rate of the hybrid cooling system to around 7% and 30% compared to the IEC without pre-

cooling (i.e. L 0). Results showed that increasing the diameter of the underground pipes increased the

surface area of heat exchange with the surrounding soil and thus improved the cooling performance of the

hybrid system. However, it should be noted that excessive increase in pipe diameter not only forces more

14
budgetary and practical challenges to the project but it can also reduce the cooling efficiency due to accelerating

the soil thermal saturation. The depicted results in Fig. 6 are presented under extreme operating conditions

(continuous operation at a constant ambient air temperature of 41℃ at all hours). In practice, the ambient

temperature varies at different times, and in some hours the EAHX alone can provide the required cooling load.

Therefore, the proposed hybrid cooling system is expected to be more significantly effective under real

operating conditions.

In the following, an hourly simulation is presented in order to more accurately evaluate the cooling capacity

and water consumption of the proposed hybrid system according to transient local climate data. For this

purpose, in the hourly analysis of the overall performance of the combined system, the length and diameter of

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the underground pipe were considered to be 40 and 0.3 meters on average. The time history of meteorological

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conditions (ambient temperature and relative humidity) in July is demonstrated in Fig. 7. For other design

parameters, the data provided in Table 3 was used.

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Fig 7. Ambient air temperature and relative humidity in July.

The potential of the underground heat exchanger in reducing the inlet air temperature to the IEC during July

can be observed in Fig. 8. As shown in this figure, the EAHX can reduce the inlet temperature to the indirect

evaporative cooler by an average of 4.2℃. This is while the air pre-cooling temperature in some hours even

reaches 10℃.

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Fig 8. The capability of the EAHX in pre-cooling the inlet air to the IEC.

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In Fig. 9, the time history of the outlet air temperature of the proposed hybrid cooling system is compared

to that of IEC and EAHX within a one-month operating period. To make a better comparison, changes in
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ambient temperature are also shown in Fig. 9. As can be seen from this figure, by coupling the ground heat
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exchanger to an IEC, the cooling performance of the IEC considerably increased and the outlet temperature of
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the cooler was reduced by about 2 to 3 degrees Celcius. This means that the hybrid system provides better

cooling performance than the conventional IEC without pre-cooling. By utilizing the hybrid system, it is even
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possible for people to turn off the IEC unit during the night time when the cooling load of the building is lower

and use only the EAHX system to cool the building.

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In Fig. 10, the cooling capacity of the hybrid system has been compared with that of the conventional IEC
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system within the one-month operating period. As expected, the pre-cooling by adding an EAHX to the indirect

evaporative cooler increased the cooling capacity of the system considerably. This performance improvement

was notable during peak times that a greater cooling load is required.

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Fig 9. Comparison of the outlet air temperature from EAHX, IEC, and Hybrid system during the one-month operating
period.

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The high water consumption is one of the major environmental concerns in using evaporative coolers. Due
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to limited water resources and the occurrence of long-term droughts, this concern is also increasing day by day.
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Therefore, the issue of managing and monitoring water consumption in evaporative coolers is of particular

importance. In Fig. 11, the water consumption rate of the proposed hybrid system has been compared with a
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conventional IEC unit during the one-month operating period. As shown in this figure, the pre-cooling of air

entering the cooler by the underground air tunnel has significantly reduced the water consumption rate.
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Fig 10. The cooling capacity of the IEC and hybrid system during the one-month operating period.

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 This decrease in water consumption reaches a high level during the hottest hours of the day, which is the

peak of water demand hours. The reduction in water consumption rates in some rush hours also reaches 40%. In

the summer, urban water-supply networks often experience network pressure drop and disruption during

consumption peak hours. Using the proposed hybrid cooling system can reduce the amount of water required

during the peak hours, and help to reduce the disturbances of the urban water-supply system.

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Fig 11. The water consumption rate of the IEC and hybrid system during the one-month operating period.
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The hourly study also showed that although the combined system could increase the wet-bulb cooling
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efficiency by an average of 11% and in hot hours of the day even by 18%, the wet-bulb efficiency will never

reach 100% under the climatic conditions of Tehran (Fig. 12). Therefore, condensation does not occur in the dry

channel.

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Fig 12. The wet-bulb effectiveness of the IEC and hybrid system during the one-month operating period.

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The above-presented results, reflect the performance of the hybrid system in energy and water-saving under
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continuous operating conditions. Practically, in some hours of the day, the required indoor thermal comfort
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conditions can be provided by the underground air tunnel alone and with no need for the IEC. Therefore, energy
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and water consumption will be reduced by decreasing the operating hours of the indirect evaporative cooler. It

seems that to evaluate the effectiveness of the hybrid system more accurately, the impact of thermal comfort
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conditions, and the reduction of the IEC operating hours due to pre-cooling should be considered.
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According to the ASHRAE standard, the maximum indoor supply air temperature should be 2 to 3 degrees

lower than the desired indoor temperature [45,46]. Based on the localized adaptive thermal comfort model in
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Tehran [47], the average acceptable indoor temperature in the desired time frame (July) is equal to 29℃.

Accordingly, to ensure the achievement of thermal comfort conditions, the temperature of the air entering the

room should be less than 26℃.

The effect of air pre-cooling by EAHX on increasing the shutdown hours of the IEC during July is shown in

Fig. 13. As can be seen from this figure, using the EAHX for air pre-cooling can significantly increase the

shutdown hours of the IEC. Thus 170 hours of the IEC operation hours will be reduced during the study period.

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Fig 13. The potential of EAHX in increasing the IEC shutdown hours.

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In Fig. 14, the daily energy consumption of the proposed hybrid cooling system has been compared with
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that of the conventional IEC over the one-month operating period. Results showed that the proposed hybrid
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system reduced the required energy consumption for providing thermal comfort conditions by about 62%.
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Similarly, Fig. 15 reveals a remarkable amount of water-saving (around 45%) due to pre-cooling the inlet air to

the IEC by the underground heat exchanger.

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Fig 14. Comparison of daily cooling energy consumption between IEC and the hybrid system.

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Fig 15. Comparison of daily water consumption between IEC and the hybrid system.

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In the first days of the study period, the reductions in energy and water consumption are more evident.
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Since the ambient air temperature in the early days of July is cooler than the last days of the month, the EAHX
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alone can provide a significant part of the cooling load. That is why the number of IEC shutdown hours in the
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early days of July is much higher. In the last days of the month, especially from the 21st to 25th, although the

use of EAHX could not increase the shutdown hours of the IEC, it has somewhat reduced energy and water
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consumption by decreasing the inlet air temperature to the IEC.

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6. Economic and environmental aspects

In addition to cooling purposes, underground heat exchangers are often used to preheat the incoming air

into the building in winter. These systems can also meet the need for fresh air-handling units. Therefore, in the

economic evaluation of EAHX, it is necessary to consider its overall annual performance. Initial investment and

operational costs are significant parameters to be considered in an economic evaluation. In the use of

underground heat exchangers, the initial costs (including supplying and laying out of the pipes, excavation, and

refilling) usually play a relatively significant role. Details of the initial costs of constructing an earth-air heat

exchanger with an average length of 40 meters are calculated (based on the price list approved by the Program

and Budget Organization of Iran in 2020) and presented in Table 5. It should be noted that the official exchange

rate approved by the Iranian government has been applied to convert the Iran Rial (IRR) to the US Dollar

(USD).

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 Table 5. The initial investment of EAHX.

Component Cost (kIRR*) Remark

Buried pipes 50,000 PE-Grade A, Diameter 0.3 m, including standpipes

Outdoor blower 10,000 Single-phase, 3000 RPM

Excavation and refilling 20,000 -

Accessories 25,000 Vents, valves, and joints

*
(1 kIRR=1000 IRR=0.0238 USD)

To study the potential of the underground heat exchanger in preheating the inlet air to the building, the

outlet air temperature of the EAHX was simulated for Tehran during February (the coldest month in winter).

The results are shown in Fig 16. By considering the temperature of 18.5℃ as the thermal comfort level in

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Tehran [45] during the cold season, the minimum acceptable temperature for the air entering the room is 21℃.

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Accordingly, the reduction of daily energy consumption due to the preheating of the inlet air by the underground
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pipe during February is shown in Fig. 17. It turns out that 29% of the required heating energy can be saved by
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using the EAHX as a preheating system.
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Fig 16. The capability of the EAHX in air pre-heating.

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Fig 17. The effect of air pre-heating by EAHX on heating energy consumption.

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In general, it seems that the use of EAHX in Tehran weather conditions would reduce the heating and
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cooling loads of the building by about 28% and 62%, respectively. Taking into account the parameters
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mentioned in Table 6, the performance of the EAHX can be examined from an economic and energy

consumption perspective.
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Table 6. Calculation parameters of economic analysis.

Parameter Value Unit

130.5 W⁄m~
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Heating load
W⁄m~
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Cooling load 140

Thermal efficiency of the boiler 85 %
Efficiency of heat distribution and exchange 0.9 %
Heating value of natural gas 31650 kJ⁄mK
Electrical energy price 7.85 kIRR/kWh
Natural gas price 7.5 kIRR/mK
Carbon emission tax 1260 kIRR⁄ton
*
(1 kIRR=1000 IRR=0.0238 USD)

Considering the parameters of Table 6, the economic performance of EAHX was calculated and presented

in Table 7. In addition to the initial cost of the EAHX and the reduction of annual energy costs, the cost-saving

due to the elimination of the air-handling unit and the reduction of the required capacity of primary air-

conditioning systems were calculated. Annual carbon tax reduction was also considered as the economic

outcome related to the reduction of environmental impacts. It should be mentioned that according to the Iranian

targeted subsidies plan, the price of energy carriers was considered equal to 75% of their export price.

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 Table 7. Results of economic analysis.

Parameter Cost (kIRR*)

The initial investment of EAHX 105,000
Initial cost-saving (removal of AHU and reduction of primary heating/cooling systems capacity) 20,000
Reduction of the annual maintenance cost of the heating/cooling systems 2,000
Annual cost saving due to the reduction of electrical energy demand in summer 4,710
Annual cost saving due to the reduction of natural gas demand in winter 4,370
Reduction in annual carbon emission tax 2,200
*
(1 kIRR=1000 IRR=0.0238 USD)

According to the data reported in Table 7 and considering the 15% inflation rate and the 10% market

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discount rate [39], the payback time will be obtained by about 5.5 years. If the carbon emissions tax is excluded

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in the calculations, the payback time will increase to 6.4 years. It should be noted that the amount of water-

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saving was not considered in Table 7 because the Iranian government currently pays considerable subsidies for
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water. considering the unrealistic price of water in Iran, the cost reduction due to water saving is exceedingly

small. As the Iranian government policy is to reduce or even eliminate water subsidies in the near future, it is
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expected that the payback period will be shorter with real water prices.
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In evaluating the performance of new systems, besides energy-saving and economic performance, it is

worthwhile to study the environmental impact of them. In the following, the effect of using an underground heat
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exchanger as a pre-heating and pre-cooling system in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions has been
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evaluated. As shown in Fig. 18 by using an EAHX (with 40 m length and 0.3 m diameter), the annual emission

reduction of CO2, SO2, and NOx reached 1724 kg, 18.7 kg, and 11.9 kg, respectively. Since each mature tree

reduces carbon dioxide by about 22 kg/year, it can be concluded that the performance of the proposed system in

reducing greenhouse emissions is remarkable and is equivalent to 78 mature trees.

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Fig 18. Reduction in annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

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7. Conclusion
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Indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) is a low-carbon and efficient thermal comfort cooling method in arid and

semi-arid regions. High water consumption is one of the major drawbacks of evaporative coolers. Hence,
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finding efficient ways to improve cooling performance and reduce water consumption in evaporative coolers is
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very important. Pre-cooling the incoming air to the IEC by passive cooling systems is one of the practical

solutions in this regard. In this study, the cooling performance and water consumption rate of a novel hybrid
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system combining earth-air heat exchanger and indirect evaporative cooler were evaluated. The major results
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can be summarized as the following.

1- The outlet air temperature and water consumption of the hybrid system decreased by increasing the

length of the underground pipe. The results showed that in the conditions of continuous operation of

the system under critical ambient temperature, for every 20 meters of increase in the length of EAHX,

the outlet air temperature and water consumption of the hybrid system will be reduced on average by

about 0.4℃ and 0.5 Lit/h, respectively. It was also found that the pre-cooling performance of the

EAHX can be improved by increasing the underground pipe diameter from 15 cm to 30 cm.

2- The EAHX reduced the inlet air temperature to the IEC unit by an average of 4.2℃. The pre-cooling

performance of the EAHX during hot hours was much more impressive and even reached 10℃.

3- In addition to improving the cooling efficiency of the IEC during operating hours, air-precooling with

the EAHX could increase the shutdown hours of the IEC unit up to 170 hours in a month.

25
 4- The performance analysis over the study period in summer showed that the proposed hybrid system

could reduce energy and water consumption around 62% and 45%, respectively. The study also

showed that the underground heat exchanger in the cold season as an eco-friendly air handling unit

could reduce energy consumption by about 29% due to preheating the room air.

5- The payback time of the proposed system under the climatic conditions and economic situation of Iran,

depending on the amount of carbon tax tariff, was predicted to be between 5.5 and 6.4 years.

6- The environmental evaluation showed that the proposed system can have remarkable performance in

reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that the proposed system with the intended

structural specifications will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 1.7 tons per year.

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7- The combined system can increase the wet-bulb cooling efficiency by an average of 11% and in hot

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hours of the day even by 18%. Nonetheless, due to low ambient humidity in Tehran, condensation does

not occur in the primary air stream under the studied operational conditions.
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Eventually, it is concluded that the proposed hybrid system is an efficient eco-friendly device that can be a good
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alternative to absorption or vapor-compression cycles in arid and semi-arid climates. In addition to pre-cooling
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the incoming air to the IEC in summer, the EAHX can also be used as an air pre-heating system or even as a

fresh air-handling unit in winter. For this reason, it is preferable to other methods that can only do precooling
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work.
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Nomenclature
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Í heat transfer area ÎÏ

Ð payback time ÑÒÓÔ
ÕÖ net investment cost ×ØÙÙ
ÕÚ specific heat capacity Û⁄×ÜÝ
ÕÞ specific heat capacity of water vapor Û⁄×ÜÝ
Õß
Õà
water to air heat capacity ratio

á market discount rate %

fluid to air heat capacity ratio

â gravitational acceleration Î⁄ã Ï

ä convective heat transfer coefficient å⁄ÎÏ Ý
äæ convective mass transfer coefficient ×Ü⁄ÎÏ ã
çè specific enthalpy of secondary air Û⁄×Ü
çÞ specific enthalpy of water vapor at the water film temperature Û⁄×Ü
çé latent heat of water at 0℃ as a reference temperature Û⁄×Ü
ê thermal conductivity å⁄ÎÝ
×ØÙÙ
ë length of the channel Î
one thousand Iranian Rial (1 kIRR=0.0238 USD)

ëÚçÚì underground pipe length Î

íÒ
æ mass flow rate ×Ü⁄ã
Lewis number

îïð number of transfer unit

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 îñ
òÔ
Nusslet number

ó volumetric flow rate Îô ⁄ã

Prandtl number

õ radial distance from the axis of the pipe Î

öÞ÷
öß÷
water vapor to dry air specific heat capacity ratio

ÙÒ
liquid water to dry air specific heat capacity ratio

ø temperature ℃
Reynolds number

ù time è
ú overall heat transfer coefficient å⁄ÎÏ Ý
û width of the channel Î
åüÙ water consumption rate íýþ⁄ã
coordinate along the length of the channel Î
coordinate along the width of the channel Î

thermal diffusivity ÎÏ ⁄ã
Greek symbols

thickness Î
wet-bulb efficiency %

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kinematic viscosity ÎÏ ⁄ã
surface wettability factor

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density ×Ü⁄Îô
humidity ratio ×Ü ⁄×Ü Ó
spraying density of feed water over wet plates ×Ü⁄Îã
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÷
Subscripts

áÐ
air

ìæçè emission
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dry bulb

ç inlet

Ú
outlet
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è
primary air

Þ
secondary air

ß
water vapor
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ßÐ
water film
wet-bulb
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abbreviations
EAHX earth-air heat exchanger
GHG greenhouse gas
IEC Indirect evaporative cooler

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2019.02.135.

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Highlights
• An indirect evaporative cooler integrated with an underground air tunnel is proposed.
• The earth-air heat exchanger is proposed as an efficient pre-cooling unit for IECs.
• By using the suggested cooling system, water consumption can be reduced by 45%.
• The energy consumption of the indirect evaporative cooler can be decreased by 62%.
• The Economic and environmental performance of the proposed system is remarkable.

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Declaration of interests

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships
that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered
as potential competing interests:

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